self-poised, cool, and resolute; his inherited quality was of a high order, and the proportionate action of all his functions assisted his general power for usefulness. Each of the systems of the body has a beauty peculiar to itself, but an excess of either one of them causes, by its disproportion, a lack of harmony; therefore, a lack of true beauty. Too much brain exhibits as little beauty as too much fat; too much bone makes the individual awkward, ungainly, inert-lazy; a predominance of muscle causes its possessor to be too forceful and too much like an animal; too great a thoracic development causes an excess of hopefulness, and a tendency to fly from one thing to another without finishing anything.

Here a

The most useful men have been those who were either the best proportioned, or those who were the best balanced. Now, there is a difference in these two conditions-for example, an individual may have, like Thomas H. Benton, a disproportionately small brain, but with disproportionately large lungs. balance is struck, and he is hence enabled to be most useful because the lungs and brain stand in such close relation to each other as to favor this particular method of balancing functions. If, on the contrary, the individual should have a preponderance of fatty tissue and disproportionate bones, the usefulness of the person is very much impaired because there is here no compen

sation.

This kind of disproportion can often be remedied by reducing the bulk of fat by hygienic measures, by non-use of liquids, and more exercise, particularly of the lungs, by swinging clubs or rowing, or by anything which will accelerate the action of the lungs, thus increasing their power.

Too great size of the brain system can be improved by using the muscular system more, by toning up the nutritive powers, and by dispensing with study, and taking more sleep.

All of the longest-lived persons that I have seen or those whose portraits I have studied have shown in their faces and physiques singularly harmonious or well-proportioned contours, and which showed that they not only possessed bodies of high or good quality, but also that their organs were so well proportioned that they were able to resist pressure or strain upon every part equally.

The most common form of disproportion of organs in civilized races is found in the want of lung development. This is not a natural condition, but will become a permanent one if the modes of dressing which women have adopted are not changed for more healthful styles. This, added to the bad air which is inhaled by both men and women who sleep in ill-ventilated rooms, and who

sit for hours in churches, theatres, and public halls without any ventilation, is the main cause of the small, ill-developed lungs which are so common that consumption and other lung disorders are prevalent in all civilized countries. Indeed, large, well-developed lungs in women are so rare that I have heard dressmakers, who have a good opportunity for observing large numbers of women's forms, exclaim with astonishment upon seeing one whose chest was well-developed, and thought it certainly must be a malformation!

The way to reduce the disproportion between too great size of the head and too small lungs is by inhaling more pure air. The way to decrease the disproportion between too great fat and too small bones is to inhale pure air, drink lime-water, and exercise more. The way to decrease the disproportion between too weak a liver and too great an appetite is to inhale more pure air, use acid fruits, avoid sugar, and take more exercise.

It will be seen that fresh, pure air is the main reliance for the removal of all disproportions of form and functions, and that no amount of good, wholesome food can take the place of good, pure air. People can live longer and be healthier on very indifferent food indeed, if the air which they inhale be pure and plentiful, and the water drunk of good quality, than they can if these conditions are reversed. Where the brain is used too much, and the muscles too little, a disproportionate action is set up which will, in time, destroy the usefulness of the mind. On the other hand, if the muscles are called into activity constantly, and the brain used but little, the individual becomes dull of thought and speech; his sensibilities obtuse, his whole sensitive system is rendered sluggish, and all power of mental enjoyment is destroyed in a few years. Physical drudgery impairs the health and shortens life sooner than the most arduous mental labors. The numbers of farmers and farmers' wives and sheep-herders in the insane asylums of California predominate over those of any other classes of laborers. I am told that this is the case in other States. Now, these kinds of labor are more arduous and monotonous than all others, and the constant routine of physical drudgery unrelieved by any mental labor or mental enjoyment soon begets disproportion between the mind and the body, and the result is an unbalanced mind. The longest-lived persons have been those who have used the mental faculties greatly, but with reasonable regard to health. Many of our most distinguished literary men and women have lived to advanced age, and have enjoyed good health under constant and prolonged mental labor. Miss Caroline Herschel, the astronomer, died at ninety-eight years of age, after a life of both physical and

mental labor. Harriet Martineau, an indefatigable English writer, lived to the age of seventy-four years.

Fontanelle lived to one hundred years of age. Joanna Bailly, a most industrious writer of prose dramas and poetry, lived to eighty-nine years. Humboldt, a writer, traveller, scientist and naturalist, after a life of most incessant mental labor and great attainments, died at ninety years of age. Sir William Herschel, a most eminent astronomer, lived to the age of eighty-three years. We seldom see a laborer who has pursued a vocation of purely physical drudgery live to an advanced age, and the reason of this is that too great an amount of physical labor establishes a disproportion between the physical and mental faculties, and an unbalanced condition being the result, life is shortened, or in many instances reason dethroned.

Where there are one or more faculties excessively developed, as, for example, Secretiveness, Cautiousness, Approbativeness, or Amativeness, or any other trait or traits in excess, they so completely dominate all others and color or shape the action of other faculties as to produce disproportionate action of some other faculties, and consequently of other physical functions. Too great Secretiveness induces a tendency to hold on to whatever the mind desires to keep secret; the glands and muscles both partake of this holding on and holding back principle, and the consequence is a constricted condition of the glands, as well as a similar condition of the muscles, particularly of the sphincters. As a consequence of this holding on and "keeping tight and close" feeling, the liver (the largest gland in the body) becomes inactive and sets up abnormal or torpid action, and the class of diseases called "bilious" are exhibited, and after awhile become permanent, and will cause death unless the disproportion between the two parts of the mind and body (for both mind and body are affected by this condition) is removed by cultivating a more open, frank, and communicative disposition, and at the same time using food and a regimen suited to this peculiarity of the glands and muscles. Herein is another proof of the unity or interaction of the mind and body-of mental faculties and physical functions.

In cases where Cautiousness is excessive, the character becomes timid, fearful, excessively watchful, filled with forebodings and apprehensions of the future, always looking for accidents, and prophesying poverty, calamities, etc. This condition of mind will in time produce such disturbances of the glandular and nervous systems as to cause insomnia, melancholia, suspicion and dementia, and will often end in suicide. Here again we note the effect of the mind upon the physical organs, and their functional

interaction, and observe the serious results arising from a disproportionate action of the mental faculty of Cautiousness and the glands and nerves.

Where Acquisitiveness is too much cultivated the spirit of accumulation becomes dominant, and the body partakes of the same spirit by becoming clogged in all its functions owing to the large amount of gross matter which accumulates in the body, and here again we shall be able to observe the similarity of action between mental faculties and physical functions. The Hebrew race is a good example of this interaction of the faculty of Acquisitiveness and the functions of digestion, assimilation and appropriation. Most of their physical disorders arise from overappropriation of nutriment and accumulations of fatty tissues, which induce apoplexy, fatty degeneration of the heart, and other complications of overrepletion of the organism. Too much or too little of any given faculty or function is productive of disease and will shorten life, unless these proportions are such as will create a balance, as in the case of small brain and large lungs and heart. wherever we look into Nature's operations we shall find that Proportion is one of her ruling principles, and if this law is broken and its provisions greatly violated in the human organism, suffering, both of body and mind, with ill health and shortness of life will ensue. How essential, then, is it that all should understand the meanings of the human face, as well as the signs of character revealed in the voice, the walk, the gestures, the attitude, and the contour or outline of the entire head and body.

But

Evenly-developed characters are not as apt to excel in one given direction as those who are less evenly balanced, but their chances for usefulness and longevity are very great, if possessed of a fine inherited quality. Most poets are disproportionately developed in their mentality, hence some of their physical powers are correspondingly defective, and this has caused many of them to die young. The Davidson Sisters, who showed uncommon talent for poetic construction as early as four years of age, died, one at sixteen and the other at seventeen years of age. Byron lived to only thirty-seven years. Edgar A. Poe died even younger. Shelley attained only to thirty years. Keats died at twenty-four. Mrs. Hemans expired at forty. Burns lived only to thirty-seven. All of the physiognomies of these poets express to the scientific reader either a disproportion between the physical functions or an inherited delicacy of the nervous system. He who reads the physiognomy scientifically understands measurably the law of destiny, and can easily predicate which organs will give way first and about how long they will last; also, the amount of strain the stronger

will make upon the weaker. The law of Proportion as exemplified by the laws of physiognomy is a great advance in mental and medical science. It should be included in the curriculum of all medical colleges; and I predict that the coming century will see it established by the faculties of all such colleges, and chairs of Moral Philosophy will be held only by such as are conversant with Scientific Physiognomy. Lavater predicted that a System of Scientific Physiognomy would be formulated within this century, and, behold! it is here.

Comparative anatomy, as now taught in medical colleges, will be extended, and the meaning of all forms and shapes of the external parts of the organism will be taught to students just as physiognomy now teaches it, by the law of Proportion; and students will then be able to diagnose the power of the lungs or liver by the outline of the forehead; for the retreating forehead ever denotes an active liver, while a straight, full forehead rounding out at the highest part indicates the supremacy of the heart and venous system over the arterial system. Other shapes and outlines of the forehead convey each a different and distinct meaning which the law of Proportion teaches, and which will be found by the keen analyst to be infallible in their revelations. The secret of all great mental power is, after quality, right proportion in all bodily parts, and this proportion can be discovered in the physiognomy as well as in the body.

HEALTH.

The basis of all really useful character must be founded upon good health. The fact that some sickly poet or feeble saint has been able to live a term of years and spin out more or less weak sentiment and poetry is not proof that ill health is one of the conditions of either talent or piety. The asceticism of the middle ages taught that to vitiate and degrade the body by filth, starvation and deprivations of all kinds was to assure a more blissful state of the soul, and Hannah More-good, pious saint-wrote that a low fever was a "marvelous means of grace." We of the nineteenth century, under the enlightenment of the science of physiology and hygiene, differ with these ideas of an ignorant past, and believe that the first step toward saving souls is to save bodies. Indeed, it would seem but practical common sense, inasmuch as we are endowed with bodies, that we should take measures to understand and protect them, trusting to the Power that has given us our bodies to take care of the soul, which, since He has not made known to us its locality, we can do nothing to advance its interest beyond caring for the body and mind, which we have already in our keeping.